why do you think it? first jhana isn't perfect for me? why? i can do first jhana meditation 15 or 20 minutes without get lost in thoughts. that was my main meditation to 2 or 3 months. Different people have different ideas about jhāna. Some people will think the first jhāna is a deeper samādhi than...

So for example, I have been reading some Ajahn Cha today. Beautiful, so clear and inspiring. Reminds me with a warm feeling of the shrines and altars I saw I the small villages in Thailand. Looking forward to learning more of the chanting I do when visiting my local group. Then in a breath I find m...

The issue is that this appreciation of both traditions has led to a rigid dichotomy in my mind that swings between Silent Illumination practice and Vipassana within the Theravadin tradition. The fact is I find it utterly impossible to reconcile the two. I'd suggest simplifying things to their basic...

In fact, Arthur C. Clark a futuristic visionary, in one of his books, mentioned that Buddhism will be the only religion that will survive by the year 2050 and that scientist cannot hammer it down or destroy it I think it's highly unlikely that all other religions will fizzle out or be destroyed in ...

I was trying to get at two related points: (1) Buddhism does not completely align with the Western concept of religion nor with the Western concepts of science or philosophy but sits somewhere between the three. (2) The typical test of truth in (Western) religion is, "Does this accord with our iner...

In my terms, that presents almost a textbook case of Buddhism-as-religion. It's your choice - always - but I don't like* the way it closes off the opportunities for enriching and developing our knowledge.... * I am saying "I don't like" as if it's merely personal preference but it's a bit stronger ...

The ' Appeal To Authority ' is particularly likely to be incorrectly applied. It is quite clear that the fallacy lies in appealing to unreliable or untested authority..but I have seen it applied on Buddhist forums to recorded remarks by Ajahn Chah..and even the Buddha. The issue appears to be that ...

I'm looking for both commentary and story based on the Dhammapada Sarvāstivādin or/and Dharmaguptaka (translated in english). The purpose is to compare the stories between the early schools. If you know where I can find it. I'm not sure that there are any existing commentaries other than the Pāli. ...

Is a faith-follower a path-attainer? According to the Puggalapaññatti a faith-follower and a dhamma-follower are both developing the noble path to realize the sotāpanna fruition. This reference to the noble path is generally understood to imply that they are therefore both path attainers (although ...

"So then the differentiation you are making is between the sotapanna path-attainer and the sotapanna fruit-attainer?" No. I am not making any differentiations. In the suttas we find the sotapanna as path-attainer, attainer, fruit-attainer, usually paired either as the first and second, or the secon...

There is more than one scheme provided in the suttas, the alternate being one who has entered the stream and one who has the fruit. Are you implying that there are contradictory and incompatible schemes provided in the suttas? And are you suggesting that there are some sotāpannas who are equivalent...

Those can happen at later moment. Shutting down the mind doesn't occur earlier in the cognitive series leading up to stream entry either (there are occurrences of the bhavaṅgacitta, but such occurrences aren't unique to this particular cognitive series). I don't feel the discussion is really useful...

I was surprised to hear some teachers' comments such as a Sotapanna must very briefly experience nibbana (what they mean is the cessation of perception and feeling ). Why are you surprised? Isn't it the (classical) Theravada understanding that all paths and fruits take nibbana as an object? The dif...

I agree with Zom's above-quoted comments. I'd like to add a sutta indicating that the attainment of sotapanna doesn't require the knowledge of experiencing nibbana... Nibbāna means extinguishment . With the fruition of stream-entry a stream entrant has realized the extinguishment of the first three...

What philosophy is found in Buddhist practice? There are some similarities in ancient Western variations of askēsis to aspects of Buddhist practice. And Buddhist practice has also been informed by ethics, epistemology, logic, etc. Although the ancient Buddhists didn't develop ethical theories the w...

With philosophy is meant the love(passion) of wisdom as fixed concepts(dogma) in boxes especially western academic materials. This seems like a pretty limited perspective with regard to all that has gone on in the name of philosophy in the Western tradition. Ancient philosophy was often considered ...